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Use USB Overdrive 10.2.1 with any USB input device Apps
Alessandro Montalcini has done it again! USB Overdrive version 10.2.1 is out as of February 10th, and it's incredible! No other input device software for the Mac can compare. This is especially true if you bought your scrollmouse from one of those vendors who neglects to put as much (if any) effort and features into their Mac drivers as their PC versions. Especially exciting for us button-freaks with Logitech MX300 and MX700 mice because it now supports all eight buttons on those models, and much better and with many more features than Logitech's own drivers.

From the author's site:
...handles any USB mouse, trackball, joystick and gamepad from any manufacturer and lets you configure them either globally or on a per-application basis. It reads all kinds of wheels, buttons, switches and controls and supports scrolling, keyboard emulation, launching and all the usual stuff like clicking, control-clicking and so forth.
Very much worth checking out if you like multi-functioning mice and OS X.

[Editor's note: We don't normally run general product announcements, but this release of USB Overdrive is worth a mention as it really is a hint - it's how you can get any USB input device to work with your Mac! This includes gamepads, mice, and joysticks that have zero Mac support, enabling you to potentially save a lot of money by purchasing a generic device instead of a Mac-specific device...]
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Use USB Overdrive 10.2.1 with any USB input device | 11 comments | Create New Account
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No keyboards, though, right?
Authored by: jolshefsky on Feb 14, '03 12:46:48PM

I've got a USB-PS/2 adapter and it's really nifty except that it maps the Windows key to the Command key. This is all fine and good except that I want to use one of those dandy original IBM keyboards and it doesn't have a Windows key. With this strong a plug for USB Overdrive, I wondered if it actually supported keyboards now. Any comments?



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It's not a keyboard tool...
Authored by: robg on Feb 14, '03 01:23:29PM

My understanding of USB Overdrive is that it has never been a keyboard tool -- the quote in the article directly from the website references only "USB mouse, trackball, joystick and gamepad" as supported devices.

-rob.



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uControl
Authored by: jeb1138 on Feb 15, '03 02:06:26AM
I don't know if you've found any other solution to your problem, but one potential solution is to use uControl (http://gnufoo.org/ucontrol/) to convert your Caps Lock key into a command key. Of course, you lose caps lock functionality, but that is probably easier to deal with than having no command key. uControl is also free (GNU GPL). Or you could spend $8, here, for example, and get a PS/2 keyboard with a windows key... :)

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Not _that_ kind of PS/2 keyboard...
Authored by: greed on Feb 17, '03 10:45:30AM

...the original IBM buckling-spring keyboard (the clickety-click boards).
An alternative, of course, is to get a modern USB buckling-spring keyboard, but they're hard to find and ~$100. Datadesk's boards are OK, the SmartBoard is a nice layout and the right keyswitch, but their quality is nowhere near as good as the old IBM boards. (New IBM boards are total junk.)



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how does this compare to Kensington's Mouseworks?
Authored by: figz on Feb 14, '03 02:16:01PM

Anyone had experience with this AND Mouseworks? I think Mouseworks is pretty good and I'm hesitant to mess with a good thing. Thoughts?



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how does this compare to Kensington's Mouseworks?
Authored by: incongruity on Feb 14, '03 03:45:28PM

For whatever it's worth...

I haven't used mouseworks for a long while...but that was because USB overdrive was such a superior program. It really does rock that much. Download it, try it. If you don't like it, go back... it's not that difficult of a process, so what is there to risk?

-i



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how does this compare to Kensington's Mouseworks?
Authored by: malvolio on Feb 15, '03 11:00:00PM

I use MouseWorks, and would not consider switching. Back in OS 9, USB Overdrive was the better program, but not any more. Kensington have done a fine job with their OS X support.



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how does this compare to Kensington's Mouseworks?
Authored by: jeb1138 on Feb 16, '03 01:06:06PM

What? Have you tried the latest version of USB Overdrive? I've tried the latest version of MouseWorks and in my (humble.... :D) opinion USB Overdrive is by far the better app. MouseWorks might be good enough, but I still think USB Overdrive is much better.



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how does this compare to Kensington's Mouseworks?
Authored by: swilcox on Feb 17, '03 09:24:27PM

This is not a challenge, just an honest question: could you tell me specifically why you think USBOD is better than Kensington? What does USBOD do/do better than Kensington, etc. Thanks for your help.



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Doesn't work with keyboards
Authored by: danskinnyman on Feb 15, '03 01:17:46PM

This program is AWSOME except for one beef i have with it, you can't customize keyboards, it recognizes it as a joystick and you can't customize anything. This is a problem for me because i wan't to customize my logitech mouse with this program but i can't customize my keyboard, this is a problem because when i install the logitech control center, it stops recognizing anything logitech.



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doesn't work with 10.2.4
Authored by: misteurti on Feb 17, '03 06:04:04AM

i've tried to install it (and other prefpanes) after upgrading to 10.2.4, the prefpanes are there, the installations were successfull, but there is nothing in the system preference...
no reboot could make them appear, is it just me ?



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